I am so glad that everyone is so accepting of this Maggie/Merle thing I have going on. I know most people would rather her be with someone else (Glen) but I needed Maggie for him because who else is strong enough to take on a job like that? So, thanks for all your great reviews! You are the best and it helps to know how you feel about where this is going. There is MUCH more to come =) Hope you enjoy this one!
Chapter Fifty Eight
Daryl glared at the black and purple clouds. The storm hadn't let loose yet but it was going to be a bad one once it did and his nerves were stretched thin. You couldn't hear someone sneaking up on you when nature was raising hell. He could smell the electric taint in the air and it was making his skin crawl. He paced the loft of the barn for a few minutes before he stopped to glare at the clouds once more.
"Looks ugly out there."
He spun around, caught off guard by the voice but feeling those taught nerves uncoil a little at the sound of it. He grunted at Carol, who was standing there with her arms crossed looking past him.
She narrowed her eyes once they settled on his face. "What's wrong?" She asked as she approached him.
He shook his head and glanced back out. "Makes me nervous. Can't hear too good during a storm. A herd can come through and we wouldn't know it till they were inside the house. Or those fuckin' freaks in the woods could show up and we'd all be gunned down before we heard'em."
"You worry too much. We're armed. We're strong and we're waiting for them."
She slipped her arms around his waist and he smirked down at her. "You don't worry enough." He grumbled and then shivered a bit when her fingertips slipped under his shirt and ran up his sides.
She just shrugged and flashed him that grin. The one he hadn't ever seen on her at the quarry until she'd started spending all her time with him. His grin. "I'm with you." She said. "It's hard to worry too much when I'm with you." She kissed his jaw.
"No pressure or anything." He growled as he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, more deeply than he had first intended, but that was what always happened. He tried to clear his mind of all the worries and put all his focus on her. She made him calm. He let his hands slide down to her throat, feeling her heart throbbing fast under his fingers. He smiled against her lips.
Someone cleared their throat and they pulled apart a little. Rick was standing there, T-dog behind him. They were both grinning.
"What?" Daryl grumbled as Carol untangled herself from his arms and took a step back.
Rick came closer and glanced out the open doors just like Daryl had been doing. "It's gonna be an ugly night tonight. We thought maybe we would post someone up here. Maybe wouldn't be a bad idea to have at least two watchin'. We can switch out so no one has to stay all night or anything."
Daryl nodded. "That's a good idea. I was thinkin' the same thing but I was just gonna spend the night. Catch up on sleep in the mornin'. Merle could switch out since the asshole's been playin' sick all afternoon."
Rick shook his head. "You ain't gotta hold this group up, Daryl. Everyone can pull their weight. I was thinkin' maybe me and Glen can take it at nightfall. You and T can take over after about four hours. Then Glen and Dale take it till dawn."
Daryl nodded. "Yeah, that's sounds good. Ain't been able to spend no quality time with my sidekick. You been missin' me, Tonto?" Daryl smirked.
"Man, I liked your ass better when all you did was mope around with a scowl on your face." T-dog muttered.
"And I like you better on the back of a horse." Daryl slapped him on the back before he grabbed Carol's hand and led her to the ladder.
Rick was looking between the two men as though they were crazy but at least he was laughing. Daryl hadn't heard him do that for a few days.
"You know, I don't think those men will just come out of nowhere and attack a random farmhouse. They'll send out people to ask around. Don't you think?" Carol asked as they walked down the center isle of the barn.
Daryl glanced down and then shrugged. "Don't matter. Ain't takin' no chances." he said in a low voice.
"I know. I'll miss you though. You know, we haven't spent a night alone since that first night when it stormed at the quarry." She mused with a small smile.
He grunted and then before she knew what was happening he was yanking her into another room. It was the same room where Maggie had shot Shane the night before but Carol didn't know that.
"What are we doing?" She asked with a laugh.
One of the first things he noticed when he had turned around and found her there in the loft was the fact that she was wearing a skirt. It wasn't revealing or anything, just one of those long loose numbers paired with a plain black tank top. But after giving it a tiny bit of thought he figured it would make it easy for him. He grinned. "Change of scenery, woman."
She frowned but then when he started bunching up the material of the skirt in his hands and then actually picked her up and sat her on the bench she knew exactly what he was thinking. He could tell by the way her breathing stuttered against his lips as he kissed her again.
Her quick hands undid his pants. He was starting to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with him. Any time they were alone this happened. But then when he felt her lips on his neck he shook the thought away. If there really was something wrong with him then she was afflicted with the same damn thing.
~H~
Maggie made quick work of putting her clothes back on. Merle watched the whole time. The girl may have never let a man get himself inside her but that didn't mean she didn't know her way around a man, he had to give her that. He figured she'd leave him alone now and that dark mood began to settled over him once more. He wasn't sure what he wanted. If she stayed then he would just be reminded of last night. If she left he would be left alone and still be thinking about last night. He hated to see her leave and then he hated himself for that.
She surprised him by throwing his jeans into his face. "Get up."
"No." He grumbled and threw them back at her.
She threw them again and then pounced on him before he had a chance to refuse her once more. He actually laughed and threw his arm around her. "Get up. We got stuff to do."
"Stay here." he said and then his eyes went wide because he hadn't meant to say that at all and he definitely didn't mean for it to come out so nice.
She smiled and then kissed him lightly. He was starting to like all this kissing bullshit. But he needed to make sure he never told her that. It was better to just let her think that he only did it to indulge her. But that would mean that she would think that he would do stuff he didn't want to do just to please her. Goddamn girl was making a mess of his head.
"You really want me to stay?" She asked after she pulled her face away so she could look down at him.
"No". He said and then laughed as she smacked him hard in the chest.
"Yes you do. But I can't. I have to make sure all the animals are put up. I wanted you to help me but I can see your just gonna lay around feelin' sorry for yourself all day. I'll leave ya to it." She kissed the end of his nose and then jumped away from him before he could tighten his grip on her anymore. That was when Hershel walked in with a tray of food.
"Oh, there you are sweetheart." Hershel smiled as he sat the food down on the nightstand. "I was looking for ya. Did you get the animals put up?"
She smiled and shook her head. "I was trying to get this grump to get up and help me. I think he's fakin' sick to get out of doin' anythin'."
Merle couldn't believe he was laying in a bed worrying about some girls dad finding out that he was messing around with her. He felt sick. He remembered a few stints he had done in prison and he had beaten the shit out of a few men for messing around with little girls. Of course she wasn't really a little girl. He knew that she was twenty one. That was well over the legal age. But he still felt like a dirty old man.
"Might be good for you, Merle. Get some fresh air before this storm cuts loose. I would feel better if she was with you anyway." Hershel muttered.
That poor old bastard. Merle would have laughed in his face if he hadn't felt sorry for the man. And if he had came in about five minutes earlier he'd probably have had himself a heart attack. Or he'd have shot Merle dead. If Merle had a daughter and he walked in on her going down on some grown man, he'd probably kill the guy. But as far as Merle knew, he didn't have any daughters out there anywhere. God, he could have kids spread out all over Georgia for all he knew though. And some of them could have been older than Maggie. He was starting to feel sick.
"Well, you gonna get yourself dressed and help me or not?" Maggie asked with a frown.
"Keep ya damn pants on girl, I'll come." He grumbled and then caught what he had actually said. He shot her a look and noticed, even in the dim room, her face was red and she was giving him the shut the fuck up look. Hershel just smiled and shook his head before he left the room.
"Are you insane?" She hissed.
"It slipped." He whispered. "Give me a break. I ain't used to all this damn sneakin' around shit. Some of us are adults, ya know? Can mess around a little without gettin' caught by their daddy." He arched an eyebrow at her.
She shook her head and headed for the door. "I'll wait for ya on the porch. Hurry up." She slipped out but before he could even get up she came right back in and kissed him hard on the mouth before she dashed back out again.
He was smiling to himself by the time he made it to the porch.
"What's with the grin?" She asked flashing him one of her own.
He dropped the smile and shook his head. "I'm up. Lets do this before we get soaked." He grumbled as she fell into step beside him.
"Little too late for that, Merle." She muttered just loud enough for him to hear.
He choked out a laugh right before he threw his arm over her shoulder. Virgin or not, Maggie was still a wild one. And even though he usually wasn't one to worry too much about anybodies needs but his own he was starting to get some ideas. "Ya know, darlin'. I think I just may have an idea how I can remedy that for ya."
"Is that right?" She asked, eying him with a vague smile.
"Yeah. I think I owe you a favor." He smirked.
~H~
"I'm bored out of my mind." Carl grumbled as the three of them sat there at the kitchen table while Patricia, Beth, Andrea and Amy worked on dinner.
"Me too." Sophia mumbled from her place between the boys.
"We could go practice." Duane whispered.
"That's something." Carl said. "I'm sick of Merle making fun of us because we aren't as fast as Sophia."
Sophia had to hide a grin. Merle had been proud of her so it was worth both boys embarrassment. She was pretty proud of herself too. She glanced up at the women but they were all busy bustling around, paying them no mind. "Can you get your hands on a few more? Then you guys can watch me and just follow my lead with your own guns."
Carl nodded. "They brought Shane's Jeep around front. I don't think anyone has taken the guns out yet."
Duane looked nervous. "What if we get caught bringing them in?"
"All we have to do is get them from the Jeep to mine and Merle's room. Everyone is busy getting ready for this storm."
Both boys were looking at her like she was the one that was suppose to make the final call. She nodded and they all three slipped out of the kitchen.
Sophia stopped them just before they hit the porch steps. "We need to get the pistols." She whispered.
"What?" Carl asked. "They are easier. Merle already said we both did good with those. Rifles are better."
Sophia rolled her eyes. "For one, dummy, we can't even use those rifles. Merle says they'll knock us on our asses. Those are for when we are older. We can show Duane what Merle showed us. Get him his own gun and then we wont have to worry about getting ourselves caught carrying in those big rifles. And we can kill some time teaching him about it."
"She's right." Duane said. "I'd feel a lot better knowing a gun that I can actually keep."
Carl sighed as they headed for the Jeep. Thunder rolled in the distance and Sophia jumped. Carl's arm went instinctively around her, then he realized what he was doing, turned red and dropped the arm. She almost laughed. Almost. If Daryl had seen that he'd have had a stroke for sure.
The jeep was unlocked but turned out to be empty. Rick must have taken the guns out earlier. Sophia kicked the tire. "Damn it!" She mumbled and then kicked the tire again, just because she could.
Carl's shoulders were slumped and Duane looked disappointed. But then suddenly Carl's head shot up and he grinned. "Wait!" he threw open the door to the jeep again and then reached his hand under the drivers seat. He didn't disappoint when he emerged. He beamed at them and then handed the gun over to Duane. "Here you go. Now all three of us is armed."
Sophia nearly squealed and threw her arms around Carl's neck, knocking him into the Jeep. He laughed and hugged her back tightly. "Carl Grimes saves the day."
Duane grinned and rolled his eyes at them. "So, you two gonna teach me how to use this or stand out here like two love birds?"
Sophia instantly dropped her arms and stepped back. She narrowed her eyes at Duane but she was too happy to give him the evil eye for long. He tucked the gun into his jacket pocket and the three of them took off right before the sky let loose with another crack of thunder and then sheeting rain.